Anna May Wong faced much discrimination in Hollywood and typecasting in an era of “yellowface” and anti-miscegenation laws.
Trailblazing Hollywood actress Anna May Wong will be the first Asian American to ever appear on U.S. currency when she is featured on the quarter later this month when it goes into production, the U.S. Mint has announced.
Wong will be the fifth woman to be featured on a quarter coin and will be among the company of writer Maya Angelou and astronaut Sally Ride.
Anna May Wong was born Wong Liu Tsong, on Jan. 3, 1905, in Los Angeles. Her family soon gave her the American-sounding English name Anna May.
By the time she was 14 she was starring in Hollywood pictures. Her first role was as an extra in the 1919 film “The Red Lantern.” She got her first leading role in 1922’s “The Toll of the Sea.”
She appeared in more than 60 films and had a career that spanned movies, TV and theater. She became the first Asian American lead actor in a U.S. television show with her role in 1951’s “The Gallery of Madame Liu-Tsong.”
Wong faced much discrimination in Hollywood and typecasting in an era of “yellowface” and anti-miscegenation laws, The New York Times reported.
Wong was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960. She died on Feb. 3, 1961.
Her story was depicted in the 2020 Netflix series “Hollywood,” created by Ryan Murphy.
